GA transportation of (personal) firearms and ammo

The military flies ammo everywhere and I haven't heard of a plane coming down because of it.
Reciprocity is key. Know before you go.
Pack your iron so it doesn't look like a gun.
Stay away from class "B" and "C" airports. Period.
Stay away from class "D" airports that do commercial flights. In fact stay away from any airport that does commercial flights.
If you have to pass through security, fagedaboutit. It doesn't matter what documentation you have, someone is going to bust your nuts because they can.
Local and private airports are your friend.
 
What kinda competitions are you doing??? Thats nearly 6k rounds of 5.56 or 9mm.
 
I've flown to matches with rifle ammunition in my own plane to multiple states and never had an issue. I've flown commercial (Continental/United) to Phoenix multiple times with my rifle and separated ammunition in my and my wife's luggage and nary an issue (airlines typically allow 11lbs per person so I split it between my and my wife's checked bags). I did have one friend's ammunition weighed by Southwest, in Houston, and he had to call his wife to Hobby to retrieve the portion rejected. She shipped it via an alternative method. First time any of my fellow competitors recall having the airline weigh the ammo.
 
robin ardoin said:
I've flown to matches with rifle ammunition in my own plane to multiple states and never had an issue. I've flown commercial (Continental/United) to Phoenix multiple times with my rifle and separated ammunition in my and my wife's luggage and nary an issue (airlines typically allow 11lbs per person so I split it between my and my wife's checked bags). I did have one friend's ammunition weighed by Southwest, in Houston, and he had to call his wife to Hobby to retrieve the portion rejected.
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It's been years since I was traveling to compete, but I learned to always carry a copy of the airline's policy and federal regs on firearms and ammo transport. I did encounter a few check in agents who were convinced that what I was checking couldn't possibly be legal.

More than a few only remembered the number '5', and I've been told with great certainty that I could only carry 5 boxes, or 5 pounds, or 500 rounds of ammunition, when of course the correct answer was 5 kilos--11 lbs.
 
GaryM said:
It's been years since I was traveling to compete, but I learned to always carry a copy of the airline's policy and federal regs on firearms and ammo transport. I did encounter a few check in agents who were convinced that what I was checking couldn't possibly be legal. snip....
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Great idea. My friend was definitely over a half kilo with his ammunition. I shoot with people from all over the US and never heard of anyone being questioned. All it takes is once and it would spoil a national championship match. When the US team travels overseas the ammunition is shipped a month or two in advance to clear customs and the inevitable BS encountered with the local bureaucrats. The ability to travel via air with all my gear/rifles/ammo is a main driver of deciding to get my PP cert and a plane; I had written it of many years ago as another dream left to wither on the vine. I'm so happy my current wife supported the idea whole heartedly. Now deciding which faster/heavy load hauler to buy next. ;)
 
Shepherd said:
The military flies ammo everywhere and I haven't heard of a plane coming down because of it.
Reciprocity is key. Know before you go.
Pack your iron so it doesn't look like a gun.
Stay away from class "B" and "C" airports. Period.
Stay away from class "D" airports that do commercial flights. In fact stay away from any airport that does commercial flights.
If you have to pass through security, fagedaboutit. It doesn't matter what documentation you have, someone is going to bust your nuts because they can.
Local and private airports are your friend.
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Know the law where you're going. Carrying a gun into an FBO office in parts of Virginia is a felony. These are not limited to B and C airports. They codified every terminal building that had at least one airline flight (even just some EAS puddle jumper) as banned.
 
Alot of great info from you guys. Thanks alot. For the few that had asked, I do those weekend-long "tacticool" carbine courses and 3-gun competitions. Mostly my friends and I just like to spend time together and this is a common hobby we have when we all have the same time off between our airline schedules. Of course this is just one mission I have for a future aircraft. Many trips are loosely planned on paper that don't include bringing the armory.
 
Old story that happened before 9/11. We flew some hunters into DCA from upstate NY. Most of the passengers were flying out on the airlines. The chief pilot and I went with them and a Butler employee to the terminal. Butler employee drives up to an empty jetway and escorts us to the check in counter past security. We are carrying 3 guns, in cases but obvious, and I am thinking we are going to be arrested at any moment, no one said anything. If we were stopped it may have helped that one of them was a US Senator.
 
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There are GA pilots who have made emergency landings at military airports/airbases and did not face consequences. However, I would NOT want to do an emergency landing with firearms and ammo in the aircraft, regardless of reciprocity.
 
Your plane is just like your car. No different. Going to a friends cabin in the PA mountains, I choose to leave the AR behind. Just in case I had to land in Maryland. Even then, I flew the eastern shore which is a different political entity than the western side. Just as if I drove the car.
 
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Domenick said:
Of all the guns I've fired not a single one went "PEW."
They all went some version of "BANG."
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All the bullets I heard when my dad was watching westerns had a cool ricochet “pitchow” sound…that was cool and it’s the noise we made when we played cowboys & indians. That’s what I remember.
 
aterry1067 said:
The ammo is probably going to be the biggest hurdle as that is considered HazMat and generally speaking must be shipped by ground.
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AffordablePlanesWhen said:
I'm fairly certain that if I was shipping ammunition the HAZMAT thing would be at issue but transporting it with my person and on a personal vehicle, that just so happens to be airborne, I don't think is a legal concern - but I may be wrong hence looking into it all.
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Ammo that is your own, that you are transporting, is NOT Hazmat. I worked for a "will not carry" (hazmat) 135 operator, and we frequently carried guns and ammo.

The ammo requirements are pretty much just the same as putting ammo in checked baggage on the airlines:

Screenshot 2024-10-13 at 11.39.14 PM.png

There are some requirements on the guns themselves for 135, but not applicable to or necessary for part 91 personal flights.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Ammo that is your own, that you are transporting, is NOT Hazmat. I worked for a "will not carry" (hazmat) 135 operator, and we frequently carried guns and ammo.

The ammo requirements are pretty much just the same as putting ammo in checked baggage on the airlines:

View attachment 134267

There are some requirements on the guns themselves for 135, but not applicable to or necessary for part 91 personal flights.
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Copy. Thanks for the correction. Good luck.
 
455 Bravo Uniform said:
All the bullets I heard when my dad was watching westerns had a cool ricochet “pitchow” sound…that was cool and it’s the noise we made when we played cowboys & indians. That’s what I remember.
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it's my understanding that TV and movie audio tracks don't use actual gunfire for the sound of gunfire. Apparently recordings of guns being shot don't read well, especially with viewers that don't have experience with actual gunfire.
 
I love it when after a a gunfight where no one has ear protection, the actors talk to each other in normal tones. Or worse, during the gunfire they whisper their plans to each other. A single round from a 9 mm or .45 cal pistol will ring your ears for a long time.
 
Domenick said:
I love it when after a a gunfight where no one has ear protection, the actors talk to each other in normal tones. Or worse, during the gunfire they whisper their plans to each other. A single round from a 9 mm or .45 cal pistol will ring your ears for a long time.
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A recent episode of Slow Horses, one of the characters had a handgun fired to shoot off handcuffs (sort of). The audio after the shoot had that muffled hearing you'd get from a temporary threshold shift.
 
Bob Noel said:
it's my understanding that TV and movie audio tracks don't use actual gunfire for the sound of gunfire. Apparently recordings of guns being shot don't read well, especially with viewers that don't have experience with actual gunfire.
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Interestingly, the sound of bullets zinging through the air and ricocheting off hard objects, not the firing, is a pretty cool and somewhat accurate depiction. I have (too) close 1st hand experience with both, lol.
 
Domenick said:
I love it when after a a gunfight where no one has ear protection, the actors talk to each other in normal tones. Or worse, during the gunfire they whisper their plans to each other. A single round from a 9 mm or .45 cal pistol will ring your ears for a long time.
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My father was a cowboy, and he loved watching western movies and TV shows. He especially liked the scenes where Roy Rogers or Tom Mix or Hopalong Cassidy fired a Colt .45 right next to the horse's ear in a pursuit. Yeah, right. Horses love that.
 
Gilbert Buettner said:
fired a Colt .45 right next to the horse's ear in a pursuit. Yeah, right. Horses love that.
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HA!!! Lol that brings back memories, in the way back when I was kid, when furs were still worth something and there was a place to sell them in town, after a couple years trapping my brother decided to buy a horse to be able to run longer stretches of the dredge ditches. I can still see his face, completely exhausted, half way limping, after a 4 mile walk from shooting a coyote while still on it. Wasn’t till the next day we were able to catch the horse.
 
robin ardoin said:
Oh...Jeezus, your soooo pre millennial. :D
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Thank you.

Domenick said:
Thank God. Don't get me wrong, if I could suddenly wake up tomorrow with a 40 y/o body I would. And, I would take care of it better. But under 25--never.
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Amen! This old boomer would love to wake up tomorrow with a 40 y/o body, as well.
 
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